Chess Tactics Server

chustle4192
32 ( +1 | -1 )What is in your Chess LibraryI am starting an in depth study of the game and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on books to have on the shelf? I have Silmans "Amatuers Mind", and that silly Fischer book? Other than that I have a book on Chess Traps that is doing me no good at all.

brobishkin
88 ( +1 | -1 )Suggestion...I think Standard Chess Openings would be a good opening book to start with (by Eric Schiller)... He notates the ideas behind opening moves and understanding the strategies behind the openings is a very important principle to the game of chess...

The Amauer's Mind is another good book to study up on... But it depends on your current level of play... Another good series (if you can find them) is Sierawan's "Winning Chess Series" (6 books in all) covering everything from play, openings, strategies, tactics, endings, and brilliantcies...

My current chess library is rather large (one whole book shelf full with others laying around... Yes and even one by the toilet... But that is what happens when the chess bug bite you good... It can also happen to you...

Bro...

P.S. Which book on traps do you have... Traps and Zaps?... And if so, book 1 or book 2?...

Rather than getting bogged down with opening theory it's much better for class level players (under 2000) to learn opening theory rather than trying to memorize hundreds of opening lines.

1001 brilliant sacrifices and combinations - Reinfield

At the class level material rules. He who has the material advantage rules the game. At this level of play tactics rule the game.

Practical Chess Endings - Chernev

I'm amazed at how many times I watch games on the internet and see the players get through the opening and middle game any yet they cannot play the end game. I've watch games where both sides miss mate in one. The masters at my club suggest that it's more important for class players (like me) to have an ending repetoire than an opening repetoire.

At this point STOP and actually read those 3 books. Then move on to the next step:

The Ideas Behind The Chess Openings - Rueben Fine

Now we start learning openings, but really we're refiing our opening theory. This book will teach you the basic idea behind several openings. Instead of telling you "If he move here then you move there" for each variation Fine explains WHY you make the move you do. That way when you run into a variation that you're not familier with you still understand the theme of the opening and what the strong and weak points are.

CT Art-3.0 Not a book but some amazing software to learn tactics. Get it.

Zurich International Tournament 1953 - Bronstien An excellent tournament book with fantastic annotations. 200+ games by great masters. Watch what the master do in their games and try to guess what the next move should be. This book will also cement your opening knowledge by watching how the masters play.

mikhail_tal
19 ( +1 | -1 )booksThe Life and Games of Mikhail Tal is a great book. Since tactics are very important its a good idea to study them. Watching Tal's games gives me confidence that I can sac a queen. ;)

I think there are some great recommendations here, but I'll add a few things. Firstly, when you say say you have a Fischer book, which do you mean? 60 Memorable Games? Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess?

I think for your rating, The Amateur's Mind is good. I don't know that book first-hand, but I've heard great things about it and it seems to be a great book before you get to about 1200, when Silman's Reassess Your Chess becomes extremely useful (I think that for an 1100-1500 player, it is quite impossible NOT to increase your chess ability significantly if you read Reassess carefully). Secondly, don't worry about openings very much, just know the basic ideas: control of center, development, avoiding moving pieces more than once, etc. Since you'll most likely be playing others who are around 1000 for a while, it's unlikely that you'll need to know much about the openings for some time. I can't imagine that it would be too effective spending more than 10 -15% of your chess studying time on openings. And my personal opinion is that with limited time available, studying opening traps is fun but not very productive.

But tactics are extremely important. I think the MOST important thing you could do to improve your chess right now is to buy a book on tactics. The Reinfeld book is a good first tactics book (Winning Chess Tactics by Seirawan and Silman is perhaps the best first book, but it's sadly out of print). 1001 Brilliant Checkmates by Reinfeld is maybe a little easier to begin with than his Sacrifice and Combinations book.

Also, Logical Chess, recommended by druleeparsec above, is a very good book. I really believe you must get this one before you move on to more difficult game collections. Zurich International Tournament 1953 and The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, also recommended above, are both among my favorites and the best chess books ever, but you'd be better off with something simpler for now. I don't think you'd get much benefit from these books before you've read some good foundation books.

So 1.) a Reinfeld tactics book 2.) Logical Chess. But don't forget to go over Amateur's Mind very carefully before worrying about a second book.

atrifix
65 ( +1 | -1 )I personally learned quite a bit from the Amateur's Mind, and while most people recommend it to the beginning 800-1400 level, I thought that it was one of the most interesting chess psychology studies ever and usable at any level of the game.

Most of the good books have already been mentioned. I agree with Sarah for the most part, except that I never really liked Chernev--his ideas are too simple and classical for my taste. Another good book is Best Lessons of a Chess Coach by Sunil Weeramantry, but I would recommend studying the Amateur's Mind and the Reinfeld tactics books in great detail.

caldazar
25 ( +1 | -1 )Like atrifix, I found Chernev's Logical Chess Move by Move to be far too simplistic when I first started studying chess. For a better book of this type, I'd suggest Understanding Chess Move by Move by John Nunn.

mikhail_tal
23 ( +1 | -1 )booksI'll put a list on neccesties (or however you spell that) 1.The Amateur's Mind 2.How to Reassess 3.An endgame book 4.A collection of games on a player you want to study 5.The Art of the Middle Game 6.World Champion Openings (or Standerd Chess Openings)

tonlesu
15 ( +1 | -1 )For anyone to suggest Nunn's Logical Chess Move by Move over Chernev's version (to a novice) should be lashed on the courthouse square.

nimzoredivivus
108 ( +1 | -1 )I have found the following helpful: 1. "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" because it helps a new or inexperienced player recoginze elementary mating attacks and combinations. 2. "The Ideas Behind The Chess Openings" by Reuben Fine because it gives one the reasoning why a certain opening is played -- its advantages and disadvantages. You won't find the exotic openings there, but all the basic ones. 3. "A Guide to Chess Endings" by Euwe and Hooper covers the basic endings and "Basic Chess Endings" by Fine goes into detail (although there are mistakes in it). 4. "The Inner Game of Chess: How to Calculate and Win" by Andrew Soltis looks pretty good. I'm going through it now. Helpful for the middle game; trying to figure out what to do. 5. "The Blockade" by Aron Nimzowitsch is excellent. It will most likely be difficult to find. Chess Enterprises published an English version in 1980. Perhaps you could find it at abebooks.com. It is worth the search. An excellent treatise on middle game play, with emphasis on blockading. 6. "The Development of Chess Style" by Euwe is a good beginner book too.

gunnarsamuelsson
26 ( +1 | -1 )my libraryMy system (no comments required - a bible) Paul Morphy a 100 games - ohh its great! how to sac in chess -Rudolf Spielmann ..dont have it anymore gave it away to inspire a guy..its 100% inspirational and its a great book if u want to improve your tactical /attacking game